I. Field
The present invention relates generally to communication systems, and more specifically to a dynamic shared forward link channel for a wireless communication system.
II. Background
A wireless communication system may provide unicast, multicast, and/or broadcast services. A unicast service provides point-to-point communication between at least one base station and a specific wireless device. A multicast service provides point-to-multipoint communication between at least one base station and a group of wireless devices. A broadcast service provides point-to-multipoint communication between at least one base station and all wireless devices within a designated coverage area.
Unicast, multicast, and broadcast services are used for different applications and have different requirements. Unicast services are commonly used for voice and packet data calls and typically require dedicated system resources (e.g., traffic channels) for both the forward link and reverse link in order to facilitate two-way communication. The forward link (or downlink) refers to the communication link from base stations to wireless devices, and the reverse link (or uplink) refers to the communication link from the wireless devices to the base stations. Broadcast services are often used to send broadcast data to all wireless devices in a designated coverage area. Broadcast data may be efficiently sent on a single broadcast channel, and control information for the broadcast channel may be sent on an associated control channel. Since broadcast services typically provide one-way communication, little or no system resources may be required for the reverse link.
Multicast services may be used to send multicast data from at least one base station to a specific group of wireless devices. Multicast data is traffic data of interest to multiple wireless devices and may be for content such as voice, news, weather, movies, sporting events, and so on. A multicast service may support two-way communication between the at least one base station and the wireless devices, although the bulk of the transmission may be on the forward link. A multicast service may be implemented by sending the same multicast data to individual wireless devices via separate forward link channels. However, the redundant transmission of the multicast data on multiple forward link channels by the same base station consumes system resources and limits the number of wireless devices that may be supported by the multicast service.
There is therefore a need in the art for techniques to more efficiently provide multicast service in a wireless communication system.